


even the brightest stars burn out

by joe_mama



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Platonic Relationships, So yeah, Unhappy Ending, both george and sapnap's relationship with dream says negative on the wiki, i am in immense emotional distress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27888832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joe_mama/pseuds/joe_mama
Summary: At ages eight and six, Dream and Sapnap met for the first time.At ages twelve and fourteen, Dream and George met for the first time.At ages nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-four, Sapnap, Dream, and George met at a battlefield, only, they weren't battling alongside each other.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Kudos: 32





	even the brightest stars burn out

At ages eight and six, Dream and Sapnap met for the first time.

It was the first time the sun had come out in the days following a violent storm, and Dream, being the hyperactive kid he was, had been waiting to leave the house for nearly five days and practically burst through the door when the first few rays of sunlight had begun to seep through the clouds.

His mother took him to the playground that day, grimacing when the boy yanked his hand from her grasp to jump into a puddle of mud. She rubbed her eyes and sighed.

Dream kicked the mud into the air, giggling when he accidentally got it on a little girl who shrieked with laughter in response. She ran off at the call of her mother.

After a few minutes, Dream crouched down to catch his breath, resting his arms on his knees and hanging his head. A blur of movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. His head snapped to the side as he saw a toad a small distance from his foot, staring up at him blankly. An impossibly wide grin spread across Dream's face as he slowly reached for the reptile, who seemed unbothered even when Dream wrapped both hands around it and held it in front of his face.

"Woah," he muttered, jaw slack as he inspected the toad's small body. "What's your name?" He asked. The toad didn't reply. "It's okay, you can talk to me, I won't tell anyone." Again, no response. Dream huffed. "Fine. If you won't tell me your name, I'll just name you. How about... _Robert!"_ He unwrapped one hand and traced a finger across the rough, bumpy texture of its back. Robert shifted at that, one leg swiping uselessly in the air. Dream giggled.

"Are you ticklish?" He whispered, eyes swiping around the small park to make sure no one was nearby. "Don't worry, I'm ticklish, too," he admitted sheepishly.

"What is that?" A voice from behind him asked. Dream quickly tucked Robert into his chest and turned his head to face the source of the voice.

Behind him stood a little boy, clearly younger than him, hands playing with his shirt as he tried to look over Dream's shoulder to see what he had in his hands. The boy had black, messy hair, clothes and face stained with drying mud, much like Dream's. His dark blue eyes, wide with wonder, met Dream's.

"He's my friend," Dream said, pulling Robert from his chest and holding him out, inches from the other's face, that lit up even more.

" _Woah!"_ He said, moving a hand out to poke Robert's belly. He quickly drew his hand back, laughing in disgust. "He's slimy!"

"Yeah," Dream said, watching as the boy sat in front of him, eyes glued to the animal in his hands. "His name is Robert. He didn't tell me, so I just named him. You wanna hold him?"

The boy nodded vigorously, holding his hands out. Dream gently placed Robert in the boy's hands, keeping his hands around him like little barriers just in case Robert were to jump away.

"What's your name?" The boy asked, turning to meet Dream's eyes.

"Dream."

"Cool. I'm Sapnap. Do you wanna be friends?"

"Yeah!"

Robert croaked.

* * *

At ages twelve and fourteen, Dream and George met for the first time.

Dream had moved to a different village not too far from the one he grew up in. His new village was much bigger, had more people, a church, and two schools, but Dream wasn't having any of it.

He wanted to go back home. With his friends and his small group of classmates and with Sapnap, who, over the years, he'd begun to see as the brother he'd never had.

He already missed it all.

His parents tried to convince him that he'd still be able to see Sapnap and that he'd meet more friends in his new, bigger school, but Dream ignored them.

Robert shifted in his hands, clearly eager to hop around and explore the new area. Dream looked down at him and rubbed his back with two fingers.

"It's okay, Rob, after school I'll take you to the swamp," he murmured, looking around the break area behind the school building. Kids, most of them older than him, sat on benches or in the grass, talking between themselves in their own little groups. Dream missed his group.

A loud laugh caught his attention. He looked over to the other end of the yard at the small alley-like space between the wall of the school and a house. A tall, blonde haired boy was standing in front of a shorter brunette. The blonde shoved the brunette back against the wall, holding what seemed to be a backpack over his head.

Dream frowned. 

_I hate bullies_ , he thought bitterly, mindlessly getting up from his seat and making his way towards the two. Once he was a few feet away, he crouched down and set Robert on the ground, gently patting his back and giving him a nudge towards the bully. Robert hopped away, unaware of the situation but happy to explore his strange surroundings.

Dream looked back at the brunette, who met his eyes before looking down at Robert, who was quickly making his way towards the general direction of the bully.

"What _is_ that?" He asked, making the bully stop in his tracks and turn to look behind him. He looked around for a moment, confused, before his eyes flicked down to the ground, face paling almost instantly. He dropped the other's backpack.

"Holy shit, that's a frog!" Eyes pinned on Robert, the bully slowly started backing away, having nowhere else to go except further into the alley. Robert took a particularly large leap, and the bully cursed loudly before scrambling back and quickly walking away in panic, clearly not wanting to embarrass himself anymore by straight up running away.

Dream chuckled to himself before making his way over to Robert and gently picking him back up with one hand.

"Thanks," the brunette said, staring at Robert in shock. "How did you know he's afraid of frogs?"

Dream shrugged. "A lot of people just think they're gross, so I just assumed he was sone of those people."

"Well, they _are_ kind of gross," the other boy said lightheartedly, laughing softly. Dream scoffed.

"Wow, how nice of you," he deadpanned before holding Robert out closer to the other. "Look at him, he's insecure now." The brunette laughed loudly at that.

"Sorry, little frog-"

"Toad," Dream butted in. 

"Fine. Sorry little _toad,_ that you can't handle the truth."

Dream gasped, free hand flying to his chest.

"I'm gonna need your name," he said, jutting his chin up.

"Why?"

"So I can know who I'm suing."

The boy laughed again. "George."

"Good. I'll remember you, George." Dream turned and was about to walk away when George spoke.

"Wait! What about you?"

"Dream."

Robert croaked, and they laughed.

* * *

At ages nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-four, Sapnap, Dream, and George met at a battlefield, only, they weren't battling alongside each other.

"Dream..?"

Dream coughed weakly, red spilling past his lips.

"Shit, Dream."

He recognized the voices, he really did, but he didn't have the energy to pinpoint who they belonged to.

A hand landed on his shoulder, rushed yet gentle and timid, as if not to hurt him any more.

"Dream? Dream, look at me." He did as instructed, willing his eyes to focus as they lazily swept over to the brown ones over him.

_George._

"George," he whispered tiredly. "Hey."

"Hey, hey, open your eyes, Dream," George ordered softly.

_When had he closed them?_

He did so, head lolling. George's face crumbled as he placed one hand on the side of Dream's neck.

His mouth was moving, he was saying something, but Dream's brain was too foggy to register any of it. George shook his shoulder, wounds roaring to life with hot, searing pain. All he could do in response was suck in a short breath through his teeth, eyes unwillingly filling with unshed tears.

" _Dream_ ," a new voice said. Dream looked over and met dark blue eyes, wide and fearful and pained and grief-stricken.

"Hey, Sap," he said softly, voice trembling. He'd die here, between his two closest friends in the whole world, overwhelmed by the grief he didn't deserve to receive. 

It was getting harder to breathe.

"How many lives do you have left?" Sapnap asked hurriedly, eyes darting from the wound in Dream's chest to his eyes, not quite knowing where to settle. 

Dream didn't reply. The frustration, masked by hurt, grew in Sapnap's eyes.

"Dream! How many lives?"

Dream shut his eyes, sucking in a small, wheezing breath. No words slipped past his lips.

"I swear to God, Dream, if you don't tell me how many lives-"

"One," Dream murmured. The sob that tore its way past Sapnap's throat broke the dam holding his tears in, and Dream couldn't care less.

_God_ , everything hurt.

"Dream, c'mon- you can't die here, you- we were going to settle down, remember? We were going to be fine, all three of us, somewhere far from here- remember?" George said through heaving sobs.

Dream couldn't bring himself to cry properly, so he just let the tears slip down bloody, battle-scarred skin and into his hairline.

"You _promised_."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He hoped the two words could convey everything he was sorry for. He was sorry for stripping George of his kingship, he was sorry for becoming too power-hungry, he was sorry for taking them for granted, he was sorry for being a shitty friend, he was just _sorry._

"Dream, it's _okay_ ," Sapnap said softly, a trembling hand threading through Dream's sweaty hair. "It's okay, don't you understand? We don't hate you, we never did, and we never could. All of this? It wasn't against _you_ , the last person we'd ever fight against is you, you hear me? We were mad, sure, but I won't let you die thinking you have no one."

Dream only cried harder.

The clouds overhead parted slowly with the cool breeze, revealing the stunning night sky, as if the Moon herself wouldn't dare take away the light from the found brothers spending their final moments all together.

"We both love you, Dream," George whispered, forehead resting on the dying man's shoulder, as if preparing himself for the final thump of his exhausted heart. "You're okay."

Dream exhaled his final breath.

A toad croaked in the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time i got teary-eyed writing something i-  
> n e ways pls pls pls whoever is writing the dsmp script put them back together or i swear to god- >:(  
> -  
> -  
> -  
> comments and kudos are appreciated! <3


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